What exactly does リクルート mean?

Question

I know it is katakana for "recruit" but most of the search results seem to be about a company called "Recruit Holdings" which does seem to do a lot of different things with job boards, staffing, and recruiting. I also feel like I've seen it on various Japanese company websites where English sites might have a "jobs" or "careers" page.

So, I guess what I'm wondering is (1) what do Japanese people most commonly think when they hear the word リクルート, (2) does リクルート have the same usage scenarios as in English "recruit" meaning it can be used as both a verb "to recruit someone" and a noun "here are the new recruits," and (3) is it the most common way to refer recruiting or is there a native Japanese way that is more common?

Answer 1

Besides Recruit Holdings (company), it's primarily recognized as a noun that refers to the act of recruiting someone. Synonyms are 採用, 求人 and (人材)募集. See this question, too.

リクルート活動 (= 採用活動)

It's also used as an transitive suru-verb that means to recruit (someone). The closest Japanese synonym is 募集する, but this has a broader meaning, "to solicit (ideas, donations, etc)." リクルートする is safe in most business settings, but (人を)募集する is probably the safer word in everyday life.

新しい社員をリクルートしよう。

We don't usually use リクルート as a noun that means "new member." The noun for that is 新人 (or 新入社員, 新兵, 新メンバー, etc., depending on the type of the group). One exception is リクルートスーツ, which refers to a suit worn by job hunters, not by those who recruit them.

Answer 2

Consulting a monolingual dictionary suggests that the definition seems to include the act of recruiting and the people being recruited. It doesn't seem to be able to take する to make a verb of recruiting. For that, you'd probably just use 募集する.

Answer 3

リクルート can be used to refer to a newbie. See Arawaka Under the Bridge